Leadership

"...But our kings were mighty men in the faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord; wherefore, we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance." Jarom 1:7

I think it is so interesting that Jarom attributes much of the success of the Nephites over the Lamanites to the leaders who are mighty in the faith. How does that apply to us? We can learn from our leaders. And if they are righteous and we follow them, then surely we will triumph over our enemies as well. Consider President Monson. If we follow him, we can also sweep evil out of our land (our homes, wards, communities). We can also fortify our cities, which I imagine can mean that we can prepare against any further attack of the adversary. This can happen by strengthening our faith and testimony. I love how this scripture says, "or whatsoever place of our inheritance." It opens up a big window for personal application. What is our inheritance? The blessings of Heavenly Father and Eternal Life. With the adversary gone out of our mists, it gives us an opportunity to fortify and secure what shall be ours. This is a chance to work toward out Eternal Life and secure the blessings of exaltation. This is a great service that leaders can do for their people.

"And their leader was a strong and mighty man, and a stiffnecked man, wherefore he caused a contention among them; and they were all slain, save fify, in the wilderness, and they returned to the land of Zarahemla. And it came to pass that they also took others to a considerable number and took their journey again to the wilderness. And I, Amaleki, had a brother, who also wnt with them; and I have not since known concerning them..." Omni 1:28

This was the opposite effect of having good leaders. They were in the wilderness which can be interpreted as the place where they would be tried (for us, Earth). And then after their time in the wilderness they returned to the place where they came from (for us, the presence of God). Athough the leader was strong and mighty, he was stiffnecked. This means that he was not humble and not willing to turn his head to where the Lord would have him turn it to. He would not obey the will of the Lord and perhaps thought his decisions were sufficient. It doesn't say that all the men were stiffnecked; in fact it is possible that these people were very similar to the people that were Nephites under the righteous king mentioned before. These results are attributed to the leader. There was contention among them caused by the leader. And contention is of the devil, so this is evidence that the Adversary had power among them. And many of them were slain. Perhaps this can be applied as, several of them did not survive. And I think it is interesting that even after this happened, there were still others that followed! And Amaleki, the writer, said his brother never came back. It was foolishness on the part of the brother to go with them after seeing the negative results of the first journey.